Without You
by lucky-gurl88
Summary: Melody has a tarnished heart and is trying to deal with the bumpy road ahead. Can the Monster Among Men help her to pick up the pieces and open up his heart to someone new.
1. Chapter 1

Melody leant up against the hard wall, shuffling from foot to foot and rubbing her hands together as the cold wind swept around her and the other girls. She looked over and saw Trisha waiting near the lit up entranceway, the others had explained how it all worked to Melody but as she took a long drag of the cigarette that was being passed around she couldn't help but be nervous.

6 months ago, Melody Richards would have never guessed she'd be in the position she was in now. At 21 years old, fresh out of business school and trying to start up her own company with the inheritance her grandad had left her; Melody had met Todd. At first things were normal and Melody believed that Todd would be the man she would be with forever, they moved in together and for two years she was none the wiser to Todd's plans. Until she found herself homeless with nothing left, no family or friends to help her and now sharing a one bedroom apartment with 6 women, who were all, doing whatever it took to get enough money for rent and food.

Bringing her out of her thoughts was a whistle from Trisha, she was waving them over and Melody noticed a man now stood next to Trisha with his arm draped over her shoulder. As they all pushed their way into the club, Melody felt the thumping of the music and watched as the other girls began fluffing up their hair, adjusting skirts or dresses and opening up jackets. She followed suit and decided to follow along and hopefully she would be able to lose her nerves and do what needed to be done.

Walking close behind another girl named Jessie, she looked around the club. There were people sitting around drinking and others were filling up the dance floor; there was a large crowd over to one side of the room and Melody knew that was probably where they would find who they were looking for. She felt Jessie grab her hand and lean up close, "Are you okay?" she heard Jessie say over the music. Melody nodded and then quickly shook her head, "I don't know what to do?" she responded. Melody watched as Jessie looked up to the ceiling, and then felt herself being pulled quickly across the dance floor and over through a pair of doors. She could still here the thumping music and from the people coming and going down the corridor across from them Melody assumed they were near the bathrooms. "Listen babe, you just have to switch it all off okay." Jessie's voice was loud as she stood in front of Melody still holding her hand and squeezing it to reinforce what she was saying. "You already know you need to do this. You can do this. Just listen to what I say, be safe and don't let any bitch take what is yours."

Melody closed her eyes, took a deep breath and reasoned with herself, there was nothing else. The alternative was going back to trying to sleep on the streets and the few nights she had been doing that were enough to motivate Melody to give Jessie a quick hug and thank you before following her back out into the main area of the club. As they walked closer to the large group, Melody recognised some of the WWE wrestlers from what she had seen on TV, she could also make out a few of her roommates already with some of the men, she mentally noted how they stroked their arms, and how they were sitting with their bodies pressed towards the guy they were with. Melody heard her name being yelled out and saw it was Trisha calling her over, the man from before still next to her. "This is Nick; he's got a friend for you." Melody felt as the guy named Nick looked her over; he had his blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and a white t shirt half sticking out of his jeans. As they began moving through the crowd of people, Melody followed close behind before Nick yelled out to someone in front of him. "Yo, Strowman! Got someone who wants to meet you." Melody felt him pull her forward through a few people until she stepped straight into what felt like a brick wall. Stepping back and apologising quickly, she looked up to see a man with huge muscles, a long beard and hair pulled back in a braid. "Don't worry about it." She heard him gruffly reply as he moved back towards an empty table, Melody watched after him but felt Trisha come up behind her and push her forward roughly. "I'm helping you out big time hun, go over there. Don't fuck it up."

Adam sat down, pulling a hand over his face and stretching his arms up. He wasn't the type to come out clubbing with everyone, he preferred a bar where he could chat and drink and not be bothered too much. But with half the roster coming out and everyone heading home for a few days he'd found himself drinking away what felt like a tonne of spirits and beer. As he leaned back into the booth, he felt movement, removing his hand from his face he looked over as the girl who had just been pushed into him, was slowly edging around to sit near him. She had long brown curls reaching down her back, she had a lot of makeup caked on but he could tell she was young. He could see she only had a small black lace top on under her cropped leather jacket, as she looked up at him and smiled it almost lit up her crystal blue eyes but didn't quite reach there. "Having a fun night?" she questioned edging closer to him still. Adam chose to nod slowly; he of course knew that there were still groups of ring rats hanging around these days, although not as common as years ago. He wondered if this girl was one of them, looking around at the other girls hanging around he assumed yes.

Melody took in a deep breath; he was obviously the quiet type. She subconsciously began drumming her fingers on the table as she tried to think of something else to say to engage the large man. Lost in her own thoughts she didn't hear what he had said to her. "Sorry?" she questioned turning her attention to him and looking into his deep brown eyes. "I said; I'm getting out of here. Can I give you a ride somewhere?"

Feeling shocked Melody realised maybe it was this easy, he was obviously trying to be polite. The others had told her sometimes the guys didn't come right out and say what they wanted; there was a roundabout way of doing things. "Um, yeah sure; let's go." She said standing and moving away from the table. As he moved around the booth to stand up, she noticed he had obviously had a bit to drink as he stumbled slightly. She quickly grabbed his hand and helped him find his balance, Melody heard him grumble something but he didn't let go of her hand as they made their way through the crowds. She noticed Jessie sitting in a guy's lap and she gave a quick wave before being pulled along.

Adam rejoiced in the fresh cold air as it hit his face, offering a mild sobriety feeling. Looking over at the girl next to him he waved down a cab and held the door for her to slide in. Giving the driver the address of the hotel, he decided that once he got dropped off, he would give her some cab money to get her home. But as they drove down the road, he felt her place her hand on his thigh and begin moving it up and down he realised she was obviously thinking different then he was.

Melody felt his large hand come down on top of hers, she frowned as she felt him lift her hand and place it on her lap. When he said nothing, Melody sat back in the seat and stared out the window. She began to feel angry; she was doing everything she could think of. She needed this and she had expected that he wanted it. As the cab pulled into the hotel, he started talking to the cab driver. She watched as he handed over money and explained that there was enough to get her home and then he stepped out of the cab without a word to her. All her anxiety about tonight suddenly turned into a big surge of anger as Melody found herself jumping out of the cab and yelling after the man who was trying to make his way into the hotel. "Hey!" She yelled out, moving so she was standing in front of him.

Adam was shocked to see the girl had some fire in her as she began yelling at him, he focused in on what she was saying as he hoped her antics didn't draw a crowd.

"You cannot just lead someone on like that. Did you ever think I might need this? That shit isn't great for me and if you had no intentions of sleeping with me I would have stayed and found someone else! Seriously, I don't need cab money home. I need money to have a home and you just ruined that for me tonight! Thanks for nothing." And with that she spun on her heel and began storming off past the waiting cab and into the dark car park.

Adam watched as her silhouette disappeared into the darkness, he found himself still standing still and not moving inside. With a loud groan he threw his hands up in the air before beginning to walk into the car park. Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark he scanned around trying to work out which way she went, it was then he heard the sound of crying.

Moving over to a bench he saw her sitting there, head down in her hands and crying. "Bloody females." He muttered walking over to her. He watched as she looked up at him and the faint light from the moon lit up the tears on her cheeks.

"Just leave me alone." She said with a broken voice, swiping at her wet cheeks.

"I'm sorry. Okay, I didn't realise the situation. I thought a ride home was the best I could offer you. I didn't know." He said sitting down next to her, looking behind him at the hotel he longed for his shower and bed.

Adam looked at the girl as she sat shaking next to him and thought to himself, I am going to regret this. "Listen, it's late. Come up to my room with me; I'll get you a decent meal, looks like you could use one and then we can talk."

Melody stared at him, the thought of a proper meal was almost enough to melt her anger away. She chose to take a page from his book and just nodded before standing and waiting to follow him into the hotel.

"I'm Adam, by the way." standing and stretching out a hand to her. "Melody." She responded shaking his hand and following him inside.

 **A/N: Just an idea I had floating around in my head, I have only just got back into watching wrestling but I will be adding a few of my new fav's into this story as we go. I've got a pretty good map of where this story is going to go so please review let me know what you think. Chapter 2 will be up soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

Adam slowly woke up feeling a strong aching feeling behind his eyes, why was it that drinking always felt good until you woke up the next morning. Blinking and moving his tongue around trying to rid his mouth of dryness, Adam tried to stretch and soon realised that his arm was stuck under something. As he turned his head, his once half closed eyes opened up wide as he recognised Melody lying on her side, his arm under her neck and her bare back exposed to him. She had the sheet pulled up around her but he knew she was naked and as he slowly pulled his arm away and rolled out of bed, the fact he was also naked became evident.

Taking in the empty bottles and left over food as he walked into the bathroom retrieving some aspirin, Adam walked back into the room sipping water and thinking back to the night before.

 _The night before…_

 _As Melody followed Adam through the hotel and onto the elevator, she watched as Adam selected his floor number and the doors closed. Turning to the right she looked at herself closely in the mirror and gasped at the sight of the black eyeliner and shadow streaking her face, digging into her pocket she located a tissue and quickly began wiping at her cheeks to try and remove the streaked make up._

" _I think you might be making it worse." Melody turned to look at Adam as he pointed to his cheeks to signal what he was talking about. "Yeah, you're right. They don't mention won't withstand emotional breakdown on the label." Putting the tissue back in her pocket as the elevator dinged and they stepped off._

 _As she waited for Adam to get out his room key and open the door, she swung her arms back and forth and ran a hand through her hair. The whole situation, the whole night was feeling weird. She was walking into a random hotel room, with a random stranger about to eat a meal together and apparently talk. For all the mental preparation and planning she had went through prior to going out tonight, she had not envisioned it ending the way it was appearing too._

" _So, what do you feel like?" Melody looked over at Adam as he held up the room service menu and sat down next to the phone. Walking over and taking the menu, she was surprised at how hungry she was and how everything sounded so good. "Um, just a cheeseburger please." She said handing the menu back and not knowing what to do next, stood in the middle of the room._

 _Adam watched Melody as she turned around looking at the room; he couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was doing. She was obviously in a bad situation, hell she had told him that just before in the car park. He didn't know why he cared, he didn't know why he hadn't just left her at the club; or out in the car park but he did know he was curious about the girl currently standing awkwardly in his hotel room. Calling and ordering their food, he moved off the bed and went over to the small bench against the far wall of the room. Pulling down two glasses and grabbing a bottle of whiskey out of the top of his bag, he poured out them both a drink; he walked over and handed it to Melody. "You can sit down, relax. Make yourself at home." Melody said a quick thanks as she took a big sip of the strong amber liquid, she shuddered a little at the burning sensation in her throat but chose to down the rest of the glass rather quickly. "I'm just going to use the bathroom." She said walking over and closing the door behind her. Leaning up against the door, Melody reasoned with herself to just relax, take the night as it was and worry about the rest later. He seemed like a nice enough guy, she was warm and about to eat a hot meal and that was enough for now._

 _Adam poured them both another drink, and sat back on the bed turning the TV on and getting comfortable. He looked up when he heard the bathroom door open; he noticed that Melody had removed what was left of her makeup. She looked fresh faced and as she walked across and picked up her glass again he thought she seemed a little more at ease._

" _There was no saving it." She said to him, indicating to her face before sipping at her drink and moving to sit down on the lounge. "You look better without all that crap on your face anyway." Adam replied turning down the TV and turning more to look at Melody. "Can I ask how old you are? You look about 18?" Melody laughed and began playing with her hair. "I'm 23, but thanks for the compliment. How old are you?"_

" _Ha, you're practically a baby. I'm 34, 35 in a few months." Adam followed Melody's lead and finished off his drink. They returned to silence, the knock on the door almost echoed around the room. Adam pulled himself up off the bed and opened the door, pointing to the table as the room service trolley was rolled into the room. After tipping the young boy and closing the door he noticed Melody was circling the table and looking at all the food._

" _Who is going to eat all of this?" she said, eyeing her cheeseburger amongst the piles of other food. Sitting down and pulling it towards her, Adam joined her at the table. "I'm a growing boy; I need to eat a lot. Plus you look like you could use more food than just a cheeseburger." Melody simply nodded and began eating her food. Adam poured them both more whiskey and began to eat._

" _So, this situation you're in. Want to tell me more about it? I mean where is your family? I'm sure they wouldn't want you out doing this sort of thing." Adam said, noticing that his question had caused Melody to push her plate away. She moved the liquid in her glass around and around, and ran a hand through her hair._

" _My parents are dead; they died when I was just a baby. I never knew them, my granddad raised me but he also passed away a few years ago. And this situation, it's not one I am happy to be in or chose for myself. When you have no choice, when you have nothing; it's just what it is." Melody sighed loudly as she took a large sip of her drink, feeling the alcohol beginning to have an effect._

 _Adam felt bad as he saw the sadness in her eyes as she talked about her family. "But you do have a choice. If this isn't what you want then why not change it?" He asked noticing that the bottle of whiskey was getting low. What he didn't notice was for the second time in the night, his words had caused Melody to almost shoot fire out of her eyes at him._

" _Change it?" She said loudly. "Like it's that easy? When I have no money and, no place to go, my life was ripped away from me and now all I can do is barely keep my head afloat. You got to choose this great life you live; money, fancy hotels and then you look down on me because of what I have to do."_

 _Melody was now standing up and leaning over at the table at him. "Now wait just a minute, at what point did I look down on you? And I worked my ass off to get here, and I plan and save because in this industry it could all be taken away from me in a second. So don't act like a bloody martyr just because you got dealt a bad hand of cards." Adam finished, noticing how his raised voice had made her pull away slightly. But it didn't seem to stall her as she began yelling back at him again. "You knew what I was doing from the moment you saw me, you looked down at me when you chose to act like offering me a ride home wasn't leading me on. Trying to look cool in front of your friends but when push comes to shove you offer me a cab ride home. My home is an old mattress on the floor in the corner of a bedroom; I fight for room to just take a breath. You know what I think; I think you did want this. The girls told me about you wrestlers, a different town every night, putting yourself through hell and winding up sore and alone, looking for just a bit of company; no matter the cost."_

 _Adam was taken aback by her words; she reached for the whiskey bottle and took a mouthful right from the bottle. "So here I am, Adam. The easy part is done, you've made yourself look like a gentlemen. No matter the cost; right? Well tell me what you want and I'll tell you the cost." Melody pulled her arms out of her jacket and flung it back on the chair, she moved towards him as she began to pull at her skirt, trying to get it down over her hips._

 _Adam realised what she was doing and stepped over to her. "Melody, just stop." He said reaching out to stop her. "No, this is what I'm here to do." She said struggling against him. Adam held her arms firmly as she still struggled against him. "Let me go, just let me go." Melody said as she pulled and pulled. She felt tears pricking her eyes and hear her voice breaking as she pleaded with Adam._

 _Adam felt the tear drop on his arm and released Melody before pulling her into his arms as she continued to sob. He stood there holding her, rubbing her back as she cried. As she calmed down, Adam slowly released her and stepped back, wiping her tears with his hand._

" _Your right, I don't understand the situation but you are here because I was worried about you. Because for some reason I couldn't just leave you, now I suggest that you go have a shower to make yourself feel better. You can stay here, on the lounge tonight and tomorrow I'll take you home. We can have a few more drinks and forget about all the bullshit."_

 _Melody looked up at Adam, she didn't know why but what he was suggesting sounded good. She couldn't explain it either but the feeling of not wanting to leave was hers as well. Nodding and moving away from his arms, she silently walked into the bathroom and turned on the hot water._

 _Present…._

Melody stirred and rolled over feeling cold and reaching around for her blanket, as her hand felt around she realised that she was not in her bed. Opening her eyes and squinting through the brightness, the realisation of where she was hit her not to mention the fact that she had zero clothes on. Sitting up and pulling the sheet with her, she locked eyes with Adam across the room as he sat staring at her.

"Morning" His deep voice vibrated across the room and she simply nodded to him. Reaching over for the abandoned t-shirt on the table by the bed she recalled Adam had lent it to her last night to wear after she'd gotten out of the shower. Slipping it over her head and letting go of the sheet she again felt Adam's eyes on her. He moved over from the table and came to sit down next to her on the bed, Melody couldn't stop her eyes from dropping down to look at his bare chest; there was some faint scratch marks and a large red mark on his shoulder.

Adam saw the blush creeping up on her cheeks and knew she was obviously recalling there antics from the night before. He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard her sigh.

"I know you've got a flight to catch so, I'll just get my stuff together and head off. Okay?" Melody said pulling her hair up into a messy knot on the top of her head and moving to stand up.

Adam sat rubbing his temples as he watched her move around the room picking up her clothes, she shimmied on her skirt and moved to stand in front of him. "Well, I guess I will see you around." She said placing a hand on his shoulder and then quickly removing it again unsure of what to do.

Adam pulled her down so she was sitting next to him and putting his hand on her cheek and leaning in he kissed her softly.

 _Adam laughed as he watched Melody move around the room, singing along to some music video playing off the TV. The emotions from earlier in the night seemed to be forgotten, the more alcohol they had consumed. He moved across the room and tried to take the bottle of vodka out of her hand, but she ducked under her arms and spun around the room, laughing as the movement had made him dizzy and he stumbled slightly. He grabbed for her again this time successfully getting a hold of the bottle and he tipped it towards her mouth before taken a large mouthful. Realising Melody was now pressed against his chest he looked down into her eyes and soon felt her lips on his. He returned the kiss, wrapping his hand up in his her and together they moved towards the bed; not breaking the contact between them._

Melody pulled away from Adam, she offered him a small smile and then moved towards the door. "Bye Adam." She closed the door and made her way towards the elevator, as she stepped in she lent up against the wall and closed her eyes before looking down at his shirt she still had on. A small smile came and went as she wondered to herself if she would ever see him again.

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting chapter 2 up, I've been battling the flu all week long. Hope you all like where the story is going. It feels good to be back on a roll with writing.**


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